Jefferson Nickel Mintage Fun Facts

I'm updating my Jefferson search data spreadsheet to account for the 2013 mintage totals ... thought I would share the following tidbit 'fun facts' with my fellow nickel searchers:


The series has been existence for 76 years (1938 through 2013), and includes 170 circulation strike examples for a complete set.

There has been a total of 56,093,100,017 circulation strike Jefferson produced in those 76 years. That is a total face value of over $2.8 billion.

I search for Jefferson dated 1938-1959. This encompasses 61 circulation strike examples with a combined mintage of 3,520,722,240 coins. Thus, these coins comprise 6.227% of the total Jefferson production through 2013.

Those interested in an estimate of how many of the 1938-1959 Jefferson remain in circulation today might enjoy my 300,000 coin search update:

https://goccf.com/t/163828

Modern production volumes have significantly outpaced the ‘classic' (1938-1959) Jefferson production figures. In fact, the combined mintage of just the prior 4 years (2010-2013) has exceeded the entire 1938-1959 mintage with 3,727,440,000 Jefferson produced since 2010 alone.

From the debut of the Shield nickel in 1866, the entire production of Shield, Liberty and Buffalo nickels has been 1,942,922,611 coins. That total has been exceeded in just the prior two years (2012-2013) Jefferson output of 2,246,640,000 coins!

The 11-coin war silver mini-set was produced in unprecedented (at the time) volume. The combined 869,896,100 War Nickels comprise a staggering 24.7% of the entire 1938-1959 combined mintage.

The 1943-P war silver Jefferson mintage (271,165,000) held the series single coin production record for 25 years, until it was finally bested by the 1962-D total of 280,195,720 coins produced.

There are nine (9) Jefferson nickels with annual mintage totals below 10,000,000 coins. The most recent such example is the 1955 Philly mint Jefferson. These could be considered mintage keys.

There are an additional seven (7) Jefferson with annual mintage between 10 million and 20 million coins. The most recent such example is the 1958 Philly mint Jefferson. These could be considered mintage semi-keys.

Based on historical series mintage totals, the ‘scarce in circulation today' 2009 dated Jefferson are in fact quite common. A rank order of mintages for the entire 170 circulation strike Jefferson shows the 2009-P (mintage 39.84 million) ranks as #33 scarcest, while the 2009-D (mintage 46.80 million) checks in at #39 scarcest.

There have been a total of 41 Jefferson produced with annual mintage below 50,000,000 coins. Conversely, there have been 46 Jefferson produced with annual mintage exceeding 500,000,000 coins. There have also been 5 Jefferson produced with an annual mintage exceeding 1,000,000,000 coins!

Roll searchers tire of finding a 1964 dated Jefferson for good reason. That ‘date' (actually minted over several years) contributed a staggering 2,815,919,922 coins! Note my prior observation regarding the total production of all Shield, Liberty and Buffalo nickels .... There are more 1964 dated Jefferson than all of those combined. Through the 2013 production, the 1964 dated Jefferson comprises 5.02% of all Jefferson ever produced. No wonder we find so many.

Notwithstanding the 1964 facts stated above, the 1964 Philly mint Jefferson is ‘only' the 5th most produced coin in the series. The 1999-P, 1999-D and 2000-D Jefferson were each produced in larger volume than the 1964 (Philly).

Enjoy ... and please add your own 'fun facts'

David